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tv   Anderson Cooper 360  CNN  January 21, 2013 10:00pm-11:00pm PST

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♪ and with a voice like ella's ringing out ♪ ♪ there's no way the band can lose ♪ ♪ ♪ you can feel it all over ♪ you can feel it all over ♪ all over all over all over ♪ you can feel it all over ♪ come on and feel it all over ♪ you can feel it all over ♪ you can feel it all over ♪ all over all over
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♪ you can feel it all over ♪ everybody all over people ♪ >> every four years the word party means, good evening from washington know everyone. every four years the word party means the same thing to the rest of the country. two massive parties and multiple ballrooms. still going on tonight at the washington convention center. the inaugural ball, the commander-in-chief's ball. there are other celebrations around town, big and small. these are the biggest and the big names from alicia keys to the cast of "glee" to the president in chief's ball and president obama introducing the first lady. >> i said today at the lunch over at the congress that some may dispute the quality of our president but nobody disputes the quality of our first lady. ladies and gentlemen, my better
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half, and my dance partner, michelle obama. ♪ >> that was the first dance of the first couple tonight, literally and figuratively, they have been to this dance before. this time around the first lady promised to slow down and try to take it all in. two parties instead of the ten they raced through four years ago. their day began with the ceremonial swearing in. like four years ago, it was a little bumpy. >> please raise your right hand and repeat after me. i barack hussein obama do solemnly swear. >> i barack obama do solemnly swear. >> that i will faithfully execute. >> the office of president of the united states. >> the office of president of the united states. >> and will to the best of my ability. >> and will to the best of my ability.
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>> preserve, protect and defend. >> preserve, protect and defend. have the constitution of the united states. >> the constitution of the united states. >> so help you god. >> so help me god. >> there won't be a doover because the actual swearing in took place yesterday. also unlike last time, the first time ever to mention rights for, equal rights for gays and lesbians and a much bolder statement in many ways in mr. obama's governing philosophy from here on out. >> we, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths, that all of us are created equal, is the star that guides us still. just as it guided our forebearers through seneca falls and stone wall, a it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung who left footprints along
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this great mall to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone, to hear a king proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on earth. >> a very big day for the president, for washington, for the country. a very exciting day if you're fascinated by the clash of political ideas. we're going to be looking at the speech as politics and poetry. the day as history and the night as culture. before we do that, let's listen to a little of stevie wonder. ♪ jamming ♪ in the middle of the makings of obama oh jamming ♪ ♪ say it louder ♪ i can't hear you ♪ in the middle of making of obama jamming ♪
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♪ yeah, yeah make some noise ♪ making things better for everybody. >> with me now, senior political analyst, david gergen, douglas brinkley, robin, also author and post editor, former news anchor, sally quinn. it is amazing. let's talk about the speech, first of all. how important do you think a speech was this for barack obama and given all his other speeches, where is the significance of this one? >> historically, i believe it is one of the most important speeches he's given in his life. most important. philadelphia during the campaign way back when was a wonderful speech. but because this speech defined what he really believes. it was the clearest delineation that we've had from him. in many ways, he is liberated. he feels liberated. in part because he inherited
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this mess and we've gotten most of the way out of it economically and the wars are coming to an end. also, because he has tried to reach out to republicans and tried to be at the center and it hasn't worked. now he's got a statement that firmly addresses a liberal agenda that is very much in the tradition of king and of lincoln and he has rallied his base. we'll be talking in the next few days about all the negatives and the negative reviews are coming in. today is the day for president obama. this is a day when he really defined what he believes fundamentally. >> david, do you think this is, someone said this is a speech he wished he could have given four years ago but wasn't able to. how did he seem to you? >> i thought it was a marvelous speech and it is brave and it is bold and i think it will play well in history. not enough people are talking about the climate change. there was a healthy paragraph in there about that. 30, 40 years ago, the fact that he took an inaugural speech and
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used that kind of time and talked about climate is important and just making seneca and selma and stonewall. it will be repeated over and over again as part of the traditions of american rights and civil rights. >> that was really something. to hear him smeng stonewall in the first statements, certainly for gay and lesbian americans, that was a stunning leap forward. >> gigantic. he connected it all to the patriots of 1776. that we keep widening in our democracy. he made those places almost like battlefield spots. like oxford, mississippi or normandy or iwo jima. >> i was going to say time and again when presidents have come here, when they've cited heroes, they've been military heroes. to talk about seneca falls and
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selma is more about an inclusive america with an emphasis on the quality of opportunity. not upon liberty. a republican would have traditionally given a speech about liberty. >> stonewall was the group of people most marginalized in society and the most shunned who weren't even allowed to congregate in a bar at the same time without getting harassed and arrested. >> stonewall from 1969 has been considered almost alternate left history for a while. now gay studies has come into the fold. here the president of the united states on martin luther king day is giving it that much time. >> vice president biden is speaking at the commander-in-chief ball. >> they know who you are. they know what you've done. 1.7, 1.7 million of you have walked across the scorching
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sands of iraq or been in those god for saken mountains and plains of afghanistan. many of you just haven't served one tour. you have served two, three, four, five, the last time of the 23 or four times i've been in afghanistan and iraq, i was flying into bagram in a c-17. i went into the cockpit. the load master was there and i said, how many of you is this your first tour? nobody raised their hand. i said second tour. one. third tour. two. fourth, one. fifth, two. ladies and gentlemen, we have never, never, never in the history of america asked so much of a generation. and you have met it with incredible pride.
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the joint chiefs of staff has prepared you in a way that always sort of takes my breath away every time i see you in theater. one of the great honors of my life has been to visit many of you when you were serving abroad from the mountain tops above the valley, watching 60 of you sit on a mountain top and get shot at every single solitary night, day in and day out, to a striker brigade in fallujah watching you wipe off the blood from the seat next to you, a wounded comrade the day before, saddle up and go back out again and again and again. i'm not just saying this, folks. you're amazing. you are an amazing, amazing generation. and folks --
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>> vice president biden speaking to the commander-in-chief. the president speaking at the same ball. he also spoke to troops live via satellite serving right now in kandahar, afghanistan, who obviously couldn't be there. i was really struck by how confident and comfortable the president seemed on this day. >> you know what's interesting. i don't know whether you know the book, "the power of now" by the spiritual guru, he talked about how you have to live in the moment. and president obama said today, this is our moment. and it wasn't his moment four years ago. because he couldn't do so many of the things he wanted to do if he wanted to get reelected. now he doesn't have to worry about that. this is his moment. it is his moment for immigration. it is his moment for gun control. it is his moment for equality. for me that was one of the most stunning things he said. because he is in the now right now.
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>> i'm wondering as you watch these balls, this is a tradition that goes back an awfully long way. so many people wondering what michelle obama was going to wear. what were you looking for? >> i think part of it, what you look for is whether or not she is going to embrace a new designer. whether or not she will do something that takes her outside the corporate structure of fashion. and one of the reasons we were all enthusiastically watching is because we recognize that every time she does wear something from a young designer, she makes a very strong statement that kind of normalizes the fashion industry. she focuses our attention on the fact that it is an industry really made up of small business owners, a lot of female-owned businesses, immigrant-owned businesses and people tend to forget that. they get captivated by the red carpet. were you surprised she wore a jason wu dress as she did four years ago? >> i was gobsmacked.
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she has a tendency to spread the love around. one of the things that is distinctive about her is that she hasn't settled in with one designer and become associated with one brand. what she did for him was really quite extraordinary. she elevated him from near anonymity into a household name. in some ways, i think it was a bit of a safer choice because there is so much pressure on an inaugural gown to be this extraordinarily symbolic dress. i think she felt comfortable going back to someone who had done right by her. >> earlier in the day she had worn a dress and a coat by thom browne and has probably changed the arc of his career. >> if i was gobsmacked, i was stunned by browne. he really comes from the men's wear part of the business. the stuff that he puts on the runway is incredibly high concept.
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it is out there. >> fashion forward as they say. >> out there. >> out there. >> that's the technical term for it. the fact that she could, or her emissary could decipher that and find the real clothes in there and see the kind of tailoring that he does is tremendous. and it will do incredible things for his business simply because people don't even know really that he designs women's wear. >> a lot more to talk about in the evening ahead. robin and sally, stick around. david and doug, thank you very much. we'll have a lot more in this hour. let us know what you think about this day. what you heard about what you saw. you can tweet me. we'll have a lot more from all the inauguration balls. all what we have seen tonight and more, more about the next four years as well when our special "360" continues. first stevie wonder. ♪ wonderful wonderful
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♪ wonderful wonderful see life in the best light.
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obama's on fire
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obama's on fire ♪ he's walking on fire >> alicia keys' amazing performance. the president and first lady are back at the white house. they've just gotten home after a big night and an historic day. we talked at the top about how president obama made history by acknowledging the struggle for equal rights for gay and lesbian americans and made it part of america's civil rights tradition. here's more of what the history books will record. >> our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law. for if we are truly created equal, surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. >> today's inaugural poem came from richard blanco, a cuban american who says negotiating his identity as an american and as a gay man is the wellspring
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of poetry. he said he has lived the american dream as being named the fifth inaugural poet. here's part of the poem he read today to the president and to the world. >> we head home through the gloss of rain or weight of snow or the plum blush of dusk but always, always home, always under one sky, our sky. and always one moon like a silent drum tapping on every roof top and every window of one country. >> richard blanco joins me now. what a day this must have been for you. the first latino american to read a poem at this inaugural, the first gay american to do that. what was it like? >> the actual event was just amazing. what i've come away with, of course, i've never done this
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before. it seemed very intimate and the atmosphere at that moment was in some ways, everything i was trying to achieve in the poem. and there is a sense of camaraderie that stays for at least a couple of hours. and just that sense of that america that i think i always as a little kid sort of fantasized about. being a cuban american. that all those ideals seemed to come just to life at that moment and that wonderful tradition of the inauguration was like a great moment for me. just outside of the poem. >> the poem was a lot about unity and about equality. >> right. >> something that i had always felt in my heart ever since obama's speech several years ago, about where one america, the democratic national convention, something that had always stayed in my psyche, i think. and i always wanted to write a poem about it.
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and i finally got the assignment and i think there were echos of that in my mine and something i've always believed, especially since i moved to a small town. the idea of unity. not only unity but that we're all so necessary and every little piece is what makes this puzzle of america work. from every walk of life, every facet. that's kind of what i wanted to bring together in the poem. >> i'm wondering as a gay american, to be on that stage today as part of the inauguration, the president talked about stonewall and said it in the same sentence as seneca and stonewall. as you were sitting there when you heard that, what did you think? >> i thought it was simply amazing. i mean, i don't think i've ever heard that powerfully before, especially when i was there right in person. they passed the gay marriage act
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and it was such an incredible validation. my partner and i had been together for 12 years and to hear that same echo today was just an amazing, amazing experience. and again with the message of the poem, of unity and that means everyone. everything. all that it takes to make america work. >> especially stonewall. a lot of americans who don't know about what happened at stonewall. this was a group of americans, gay americans and lesbian americans and transgender americans who were really on the fringes of society. and considered, you know, anathema that weren't allowed to congregate in a bar together. they weren't allowed to dance together. they could be arrested by the police and this was the first time they fought back against a police raid on a bar. >> when you think about that historically wasn't that long ago. to hear that today and even my presence as a cuban american, as a latino on stage today on the platform.
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it is just amazing how things have changed. and one of the things that i always feel in my work, there is a sense of cultural negotiation and trying to figure myself out which is a universal question. through this process of writing this poem i'm realizing that america is figuring out its own story, too. it is trying to negotiate a lot of things and it is moving toward, with every sort of direction it takes. it moves toward finding that identity. and today was one of those moments. i think what we're trying to say, here's where we are. here's what we're choosing. or here's the direction, at least. so in that way the american story is the story of always becoming, what will we be tomorrow and that idea of hope which is so fresh on our lips, as it was 250 years ago. >> and for the president to be putting it, the fight for equality for gay and lesbian
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americans as a civil rights movement, not something as gay rights but equal rights. the continuing of the civil rights movements from women's rights to the civil rights movement on african-americans. >> that was a great way to couch it. and i feel that is how it is. i mean, i honestly feel that sometimes even on tv or sometimes, there is still like this sense that we can say things about gay americans as if. and i often wonder if some of the things i hear on tv or even tv commercials, if that were to be said about a latino or an african-american, that would not fly. >> in movies you hear the f-word spoken about gay americans. you don't hear the n-word as much. if somebody said the n-word, people would be outraged. >> and they couch that, why do we feel at liberty to sort of put gay america in that context.
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as if we could do that. so that was a great way of couching that, our presence. >> i know it has been an extraordinary day. thank you for to us. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. richard blanco. in his inaugural address today, president obama said we are made for this moment and we'll seize it so long as we seize it together. he outlined his agenda for the next four years. we'll take a closer look at what he has in mind. right now, take a look at joe biden at the commander-in-chief's ball earlier. >> beautiful. to all of our military out there, man, thank you for doing it. we couldn't live in this country without you. we love you.
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tomorrow starts here. ♪ oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ >> a great performance by beyonce. she can certainly hit the notes. the question is did the president hit the right notes in his presidential speech? >> we've always understood when times change, so must we. that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges. preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. for we, the people, understand
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that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well in a growing many barely make it. we, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. we, the people, still believe that our obligations as americans are not just to ourselves but to all posterity. we, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war. we, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths, that all of us are created equal is the star that guides us still just as it guided our forebearers through seneca falls and stonewall, just as it guided all those men and women, sung
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and unsung who left footprints along this great mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone, to hear a king proclaim that our individual freedom is inand trekbly bound to the freedom of every soul on earth. >> president obama earlier today. joining me now, margaret hoover, also, currently president of rebuild the dream and democratic strategist, paul begala who advised, maybe even masterminded the pro obama super pac. you said you hoped the president would talk a warm cuddly piece of unity but then go out and be ruthless, go for partisanship. what did you hear today? do you think he did what he needed to? >> i do. i do not think it was partisan at all. it was philosophical. there is a time for partisanship and he'll be that when the time arises. this was answering ronald reagan from 32 years ago.
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his whole philosophy was intensively individualistic. president obama answered that today. and he said an old speech writers device. to repeat again and again, we the people, we the people. the first three words of our founding document. he embraces thathe said to ronald reagan, we're stronger together. and i thought it was powerful but philosophical. i thought this was obama at his best. >> i saw a lot of tweets from republicans saying this was a call for big government that he didn't reach out enough. >> there was partisanship. it is hard to deny when he directly rebuked the gop by saying we are not a country of takers. by defending the government level of programs, social security, medicare, medicaid. but directly rebuking paul ryan and the 47% comment that got mitt romney in trouble. there may have been high arching philosophical tones but there were also those tones.
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>> are you embracing the 47% comment? >> no, no, i wouldn't say, i don't know if it is fair to say it wasn't partisan at all. >> this was not a speech where he stood up and said my mission is to leave office like a ronald reagan, being the president who turned around an economy, restored the confidence of a nation in its place in the world. no. he turned inward. and he said my mission here is to pick up the legacy of martin luther king and expand it as i think you've noted. that's not something he needs to work with republicans in congress for. it is something he doesn't need money for, by the way. it is, you're right, a moral agenda. but it is a very left of center argument that he made today about government. and republicans are going to go after him on that. this was a warrior president today. >> there was a more aggressive tone, you might say. let's play another moment from
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the speech. >> together we determine that a modern economy requires rail roads and highways to speed travel and commerce. schools and colleges to train our workers. together we discovered that a free market only thrives when our rules to ensure competition and fair play. together we resolve that a great nation must care for the vulnerable and protect its people from life's worst hazards and misfortune. >> i mean -- >> america's problems, what he said in the speech today. he said america's problem was not competing with the world. it was lack of justice. social justice in america. and an egalitarian argument. he focused inward, not outward today. >> i see it somewhat differently. the way i see it, there is a conversation happening in america right now. i think when you have a country going through this much change. i don't mean washington, d.c. i mean brought about by the world.
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big demographic shifts in the country. asia being a real challenger outside. there is an identity crisis that any country goes through. there is a conversation. who is america? what is america? what are we about? i think he has been on the receiving end of a lot of attacks saying his ideas are not american. so i think that what he did which i'm glad he did. he was strong in his beliefs. he didn't back down from the fight of what he believed in. but he tried to cast them in terms and in tones that honored the founders, that honored dr. king, honored the best in the country. and i think in the old way of seeing things, that would be a left thing to do. he is speaking though to the emerging majority in america which is brown, young, which is much more open to the ideas around marriage equality. he is speaking to the america that is rising. i don't think that's left versus right. i think it is right versus wrong in the context of the new majority. >> if i can disagree a little. it seems to me to be left when
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you say government can't cure society's ills alone. in other words, the center of curing society's ills is always government. on occasion, government needs a little help. no, no, he said that today though. he is being misquoted. >> a critical distinction between the way president reagan stated his philosophy. president reagan and many on the right begin from a premise of negativity. government is the problem, not the solution said president reagan. president obama did not bash business. he did not bash individuals. in fact, he went out of his way to praise a celebration of initiative and enterprise. assistance on hard work. he said as constance of our character. he is trying to find a synthesis. big government could not produce thomas edison or steve jobs but profit motive could not inspire dr. king or abraham lincoln. and i think this president is trying to rebalance it. it goes back to our founding.
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>> we have to end on that. stay with us. we'll continue our conversation with our panel after a quick break. we have more to talk about how deeply the president fused his remarks. like a lot of things, trying to find a better job can be frustrating. so at university of phoenix we're working with a growing list of almost two thousand corporate partners - companies like microsoft, american red cross and adobe - to create options for you. not only that, we're using what we learn from these partners to shape our curriculum, so that when you find the job you want you'll be a perfect fit. let's get to work.
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♪ america, america god shed his grace on thee ♪
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♪ >> on the steps of the u.s. capital, james taylor. i want to show you another moment. when a first term president stands before the country on inauguration day, he knows that is what he is experiencing might never happen again. a two-term president, though, he knows it for sure. mixing been there and done that, last time ever, it has to pack a serious punch. today leaving the swearing in ceremony, president obama appeared to feel it and paused, turned around and said so. watch. >> president obama looking at some 800,000 or so faces staring back at him. pausing briefly. turning back to look at the crowd.
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his daughters, noticed, called the presidential photographer to try to capture the moment. back with our panel. margaret hoover is here, alex, van jones and paul begala. there was a moment where the president's speech has been getting a lot of attention today. i wanted to play that. >> we reject the believe that america must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the country that will build its future. the commitments we make to each other through medicare and medicaid and social security, these things do not sap our initiative. they strengthen us. they do not make us a nation of takers. they free us to take the risks that make this country great. >> as you said, that was pretty much a reference to paul ryan to mitt romney's comments on the 47%.
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>> paul ryan had a various generous tweet saying we're with the president today. i congratulate him on the day of the second inauguration. >> today. what happens tomorrow? >> this president is telling us, he is expecting four years of war with republicans but he doesn't care about that to ensure his legacy. that is almost irrelevant. he thinks the biggest problem in america is not our lack of economic growth, that we're facing decline and bankruptcy. our biggest quality is equality. the lack of social justice and he will address that. he will leave office four years from now not a hero like reagan who turned the country around but a hero like martin luther king who took up and said the equality belongs to everybody in this country. black americans, hispanic americans, women, those who are disadvantaged. that's my mission. and guess what, even if the country is broke, i don't need money for that. that's a moral movement i can lead and get on mt. rushmore. so i think if you ask most
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americans what the biggest problem is, they wouldn't say a lack of social justice. they would say it is a country in decline. >> i think it is a false either/or. i think there are two patriotisms in america. there is a liberty only patriotism that says, it is all about my individual economic activity and opportunity and growth and i'm for individual opportunity and growth. there is also a liberty and justice for all patriotism which is really where i think obama stands. obama is for our businesses doing better. he stood wall street back up. he stood our auto industry back up. but it is liberty and justice for all. that kind of patriotism appeals more to the new governing coalition in america. >> i think this tone matters. >> he is exactly right. that line especially was a shot at paul ryan who loves to talk about makers and takers. and denigrate people who have earned government benefits.
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and i think this suggests, perhaps, a change in tactics. i think in the first term, it was far too much for the prophet isaiah. come let us reason together. they weren't interested in reasoning. they voted almost zero for his economic program and absolutely zero for his health care program and they won a land slide mid-term. now he switched to ezekiel, interpreted by samuel jackson. i will strike down with terrible vengeance. and a lot of democrats have been looking for this. and it does show that you this perhaps, i think the hagel nomination is a shot at the neo con who's clearly did not want that. i think this is a direct frontal assault on a fixed position on the nra. very brave stuff he is doing. >> this president who stood there and said, we don't to have choose between investing in our kids and medicare. this is president who invented time travel. he has figured out how to travel
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into the future and steal our own children's money. and he did that. but yet he is the one saying that of course, republicans just took a shot at republicans for -- >> here's what i'm wondering. i hear you. i hear both of you. i wonder, this is a tactical shift. last go-around, he got pushed around so much by the republicans. this time he is going to do the pushing. and he knows, if he is going to have a legacy piece, if it is going to get the legislation that gets through, it will have to be deficits. nixon in china. who can reform entitlements but a democratic president. he is starting where he is. he is starting with the bases. he is not a progressive as a centrist. he is doubling down as a progressive. that is where he is. if he is going on move to the center, maybe that happens later. he won't pretend to be there from the start. >> part of the reason he doesn't have to do what they would have preferred him do, make the case about the economy is because he is a person who fixed the
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economy. it was the republican party unfortunately, their stewardship that led to the crash. he saved us from the great depression. i don't think he has to give a speech about how much he cares about the economy. he fixed it. he saved it. now he's saying we're going to keep doing that. let's make sure it includes everybody. that's liberty and justice for all. >> i'll get you a banner that says mission accomplished. you can hang that up there. >> i've got an old one. >> margaret hoover, alex, van jones, thank you very much. our live coverage of inauguration night continues ahead including an exclusive look at the design sketches from the inaugural gown. it surprised a lot of people. ♪ good morning, turtle. ♪ my friends are all around me ♪ my friends, they do surround me ♪ ♪ i hope this never ends ♪ and we'll be the best of friends ♪ ♪
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♪ >> marc anthony performing right now at one of the inaugural balls still continuing. no doubt they'll go late into the night. michelle obama wearing a gown by jason wu who also designed her inaugural gown in 2009.
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one of the most tightly held secrets. everybody watching to see what she was wearing. we'll have a look at the exclusive designs. i want to bring back in our republican consultant, alex, and van jones, former special adviser to president obama. what happens tomorrow? there was all this talk today of getting along, getting together. >> giving exchanges. >> the honeymoon is over. >> already. >> we're going to hear a lot more criticism of a lot of the words in the speech tomorrow. >> there was a lot in that speech that republicans are going to hear as a very aggressive continuation of the campaign. they're going to hear a repudiation of bill clinton's the era is over. they'll hear no, no, we need more big government. what we've been about, if you
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ask the american people, president obama should focus on something, would it be equality or economic renewal, most americans would say economic renewal. >> do you think he won't be focusing on it because he spoke about equality today? >> well, not because he spoke about equality today. it is because he elevated it as a central theme of his presidency and he said that without that, there is no progress. no economic -- that comes morally and i think linearly first. that's not i think what the american people would think. >> but here's what i think is actually happening. the trickle down economic model that says, when the wealthy do well, everybody else will do better. i think it has been discredited. i think what obama firmly believes is that the economy grows from the middle class out. so therefore, it used to be the case you would say either you're concerned about growth or about equality. i think what obama believes is that when you have too much
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inequality, you cannot get the growth. >> well, for the next two years you're not talking about the middle class out. you're talking about from washington down. top down old-fashioned industrial age government and you're going to see some republicans say let's grow this economy bottom up outside washington. >> i think there's a generational problem here. i don't think he is saying that. i think there is a, an economic mod that he will he is trying to champion. i think you will see the inequality is a problem. >> no doubt a conversation we'll continue tomorrow as well. thank you. let's turn to fashion. a lot of folks have been interested. not just the politics but very personal as we saw a moment ago. the first couple dancing. their first dance of the night. michelle obama wearing a gown by jason wu who also designed her inaugural gown four years ago. it is one of the most titlely held secrets in washington every year. the designers themselves don't know which gown the first lady will wear. that's jason wu four years ago.
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he said he screamed when he saw michelle obama wearing it four years ago. no doubt, he probably screened again tonight after the festivities, the gown goes to the national archives. >> what a night this must have been for jason wu. to have this happen twice is extraordinary. >> it is really starting. i can't recall a time when it has happened recently. generally the first ladies tend to go with the designer they know well for the first inauguration. oftentimes the designers get a lot of notoriety but don't necessarily get a big business boost from it. but then they move on to someone else the second time around. and it is often been oscar de la renta, the go-to guy. so it is unusual that she would choose the same young designer twice. >> what about the color red? i think of nancy reagan. were you surprised by this color? >> well, you know, nancy reagan doesn't own red and barbara bush
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doesn't own blue. they're patriotic colors. i was surprised because i tend to think of them as cliche. very traditional and mrs. obama has proven herself to be very untraditional when it comes to fashion. i was surprised that she chose such an expected color. >> we certainly saw that with the outfit earlier today, the dress and the coat by thom browne. you got the exclusive look at jason wu's sketch. >> did i and it is quite extraordinary to look at it. knowing jason wu and his handwriting, this is certainly him. if you can read there from the top to the bottom, it says gold embellished ring. that ring around that haltar top portion of the dress was made by kimberly mcdonald. diamond encrusted. the other notes say draped chiffon with texture, red dye to match, duchess belt and column skirt. and you can see his signature,
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jason wu. really, really extraordinary. and he mentioned the surprise, shock, red carpet moment where these designers don't know. and i can tell you just by looking at jason wu's tweet tonight which said #in shock. he had no idea that this was going to happen. i spoke to one of his representatives, pretty high up tonight and she told me, you know, we had an inkling. i said come on. four years ago she chose jason wu. did you really think that she would choose him again? maybe give someone else another shot? and she said, no, you know what? we thought we were in the running. and you know what? these designers put their heart and soul into this work. they try to produce their very, very best knowing what this is for. i like to call it the super bowl of fashion. other people have likened it to the olympics. it is a very big deal. it is the biggest prize you can get and on a day like this,
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anderson, what a shock. i have to say. truly surprising. >> only about 30 seconds left. do all the designers know the measurements for barack obama? do they have mann kins? >> they. do they don't have direct access to the first lady themselves do all makemankins in her likeness. it is extraordinary. the gowns are shuttled back and forth for fittings between d.c. and notes. they come back with notes. change this, change that. and boy, jason wu got the big prize tonight. >> certainly did. thank you for all your investigative reporting on all of this. thank you. another inauguration day is coming to a close at 57th in this nation's history. it will be president obama's last, of course, for the 44th president. hundreds of thousands gather in the nation's capital to witness the start of president obama's second term.
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we'll show you more images from the day as we continue. ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states, barack obama. >> i barack obama do solemnly swear. >> that i will faithfully execute. the office of president of the united states. >> and will to the best of my ability. and will to the best of my ability. >> preserve, protect and defend. >> preserve, protect and defend. >> constitution of the united states. constitution of the united states. >> so help you god? >> so help me god. >> congratulations, mr. president. >> we, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths,
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that all of us are created equal. is the star that guides us still just as it guided our forebearers, just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung who left footprints along this great mall to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone. to hear a king proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on earth. my fellow americans, we are made for this moment and we will seize it so long as we seize it together.
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♪ my country to thee we sing ♪ ♪ o say does that star spangled banner yet banner yet wave ♪ ♪ or the land of the free ♪ and the home of the brave >> one for the history books. that does it for us live from the mall on washington, d.c. our special inauguration coverage continues next.